Limerick minor hurlers suffer defeat at hands of Tipperary:

Limerick minor hurlers suffer defeat at hands of Tipperary:

By John Redington Limerick Leader Sport

“WE JUST didn’t get enough scores from play,” was manager Diarmuid Mullins’s assessment of Limerick’s minor hurlers’ 2-13 to 0-16 defeat to Tipperary under miserably wet conditions in the TUS Gaelic Grounds in the fourth round of the Munster Championship round robin on Wednesday evening.

With one win and two defeats, his charges must win their final outing away to Cork to qualify for the knockout stages.

If they do manage to make it, they’ll be hoping to get off to a better start than they did in this game where a lack of cohesion in possession was punished by their opponents on the break and, even though they shaved a lead of five down to two by the break, all but one of their scores had come from frees.

Two Tipp goals after the restart left them facing the mountain all over again yet they never threw in the towel and, as they finally found some fluency to their play, they rattled their unbeaten opponents with a relentless final quarter chase that just stopped short of the finishing post.

In a portent of what was to come, Limerick’s first five attacks were turned over without coming into scoring range which allowed KJ Byrne and Conall Morrison to point off the break and, after sending their next counter-attack wide, Oisín Pearl and Ollie Roche’s free to put the visitors four to the good in as many minutes.

However, their opponents’ puckout was still finding the target and, after Shane Waters got them off them off the mark from a free, Eamon O’Sullivan followed up with a strike from play.

Tipp’s response slowed down as a few chances went wide but they were moving again when Dunne collected the long pass to steal into the square but, after he was pulled down by Conor Ryan who collected a black card, Roche’s penalty was stopped by Sam Collins only for Morrison to point off the rebound.

Conor Kennedy’s point followed but concession of a string of fouls prevented the Premier side making use of the extra man as Shane Waters’s free was met by Morrison and Shane Ryan’s long strike by another Waters free before Kennedy moved the lead out to five.

Back to full strength, Limerick increased their share of possession and, in the run up to half-time, drew three fouls for Waters to punish and reduce the deficit to 0-9 to 0-7 as they headed into the dressing room.

That mini-revival was wiped out within minutes of the restart when Rian McGrath whipped the fallout from James Finn’s bustling solo up the centre to the net after which both sides reached for the free-takers as Roche’s met Waters’s first and Ryan answered the Na Piarsaigh marksman’s second.

The next exchange, this time from play, saw Morrison split the posts from out on the sideline before Waters found the target from a scramble but Limerick’s efforts to eat into the margin took a body blow when Roche collected Ryan’s lay-off to blast past Sam Collins from a tight angle and put his side ahead by eight going into the final quarter.

At that point, however, the hosts were raiding the bench to staunch the flow of scores against them and, when the fresh legs attacked the heavy conditions, possession was retained long enough for O’Sullivan, Diarmuid Crowe and O’Sullivan again to point and the Premier defence was being rattled into uncertainty when Waters sent over a free and a ’65’ and a free to close the gap to three with five regulation minutes to go.

After sending two attempts at a reply wide of the posts, Tipp did manage to break the momentum with a point from substitute Seán Burke before Limerick wound themselves up for a final heave with a long Waters free just as the watch edged into the four added minutes.

They would have found an equalising goal had Eoin Connolly not blocked Callum Butler’s 20 metre free but that was as near they got before their final onslaught ran out time.

SCORERS:

TIPPERARY: Ollie Roche 1-3 (0-2 f); Conall Morrison 0-4; Rian McGrath 1-1; Shane Ryan (1f), Conor Kennedy 0-2 each; Seán Burke 0-1.

LIMERICK: Shane Waters 0-12 (9f , 1 ’65); Eamon O’Sullivan 0-3, Diarmuid Crowe 0-1.

TIPPERARY: Eoin Connolly; Colm Ryan, Conor Collins; Oisín Kennedy, James Finn, Travis McLoughlin; Shane Ryan, Hugo Healy; Conor Kennedy, Conall Morrison, Éanna Tucker; Ollie Roche, Rian McGrath, KJ Dunne.

Subs: Ciarán Gantley for Éanna Tucker (43 mins), Seán Burke for Rian McGrath (51 mins), John O’Mera for Hugo Healy (56 mins).

LIMERICK: Sam Collins (Crecora-Manister); Rowan Collins (Adare), William Ryan (Murroe-Boher), Sam Mitchell (Knockainey); Eoin Hennessy (Patrickswell), Conor Ryan (Monaleen), John O’Riordan (Bruff); Xavier Nelligan (Kilmallock), Jack Roche (Blackrock); Diarmuid Crowe (Doon), Ryan Foley (Patrickswell), Shane Waters (Na Piarsaigh); Gavin O’Brien (Kilmallock), Eamon O’Sullivan (Adare), Rian Horgan (Murroe-Boher).

Subs: Colin Burke (Dromcollogher-Broadford) for Rian Horgan (39 mins), Danny O’Grady (Granagh-Ballingarry) for Jack Roche (49 mins), Daire Long (Pallasgreen) for Gavin O’Brien (49 mins), Jack McCarthy (Ballybrown) for Sam Mitchell (59 mins), Callum Butler (Patrickswell) for Xavier Nelligan (61 mins).

REFEREE: Patrick O’Mahony (Cork).